A tea garden near the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district has become the centre of a tense investigation after a 35-year-old tea farmer was allegedly abducted by a group of Bangladeshi miscreants on Saturday.

The missing farmer has been identified as Dipankar Gope, a resident of Tasar Para in Chaulhati, a border village in Jalpaiguri.

According to local sources and his family, Gope was working at a tea garden in the Kukurjan area of Rajganj block, close to the international border, when he was allegedly taken away.

His family's account has added a possible cross-border dimension to the case. They suspect that Gope's alleged abduction may have been carried out in retaliation for an earlier attempt by a Bangladeshi national to enter India.

That alleged infiltration attempt took place on August 6 along the Chaulhati border, according to local sources.

The Bangladeshi national reportedly tried to enter Indian territory after cutting through the barbed-wire fencing along the border.

The family believes the two incidents could be connected, although authorities have not yet established any such link.

The circumstances surrounding Gope's disappearance remain unclear, and investigators are expected to examine whether the alleged infiltration attempt had any bearing on his disappearance.

Gope was reportedly working in the tea garden in Kukurjan when the alleged abduction took place. His family has expressed serious concern for his safety and fears that he may have been taken across the international boundary.

The allegation has unsettled residents of villages along this stretch of the India-Bangladesh border, where tea workers and agricultural communities routinely carry out their livelihoods in areas close to the international boundary.

The border belt in Jalpaiguri and neighbouring districts has previously seen incidents involving attempts at unauthorised crossings.

While fencing and the deployment of security forces are intended to restrict illegal movement, stretches of agricultural land and difficult terrain can make surveillance challenging.

For investigators, the immediate task is to establish what happened to Gope, trace his whereabouts and identify the people allegedly involved in his disappearance. They will also have to determine whether he was actually taken across the border.

The family's claim linking the alleged abduction to the August 6 infiltration attempt is also likely to form part of the probe.

The incident comes at a time of heightened scrutiny over security along the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal.

Residents in border villages have repeatedly raised concerns over unauthorised crossings and criminal activity in the area.

Authorities have not yet publicly confirmed the identities of those allegedly involved in Gope's abduction, nor have they established whether the missing tea farmer was taken into Bangladesh.

As the investigation continues, Gope's family is waiting for one answer above all: where is the 35-year-old tea farmer, and will he return home safely?